The Cell
by chrizy
Summary: This is a story i started once but never finished. I'd appreciate help. It is about a group of people that are locked up together in a cell by annonymous people. Obviously they are very different from each other adn conflicts are destiny.


AN : This is a Story that I sarted some time ago, and never finished. I wrote it nearly all in one go, and I know where it si going to go but I have no idea anymore how to get there. i find it difficult to find my muses (Looks around, Are you there? g) i would appreciate any ideas.

Chapter 1 – The Prisoners Arrive

There were two cells. One for women and one for men. Rusty old bars of iron that could be taken out easily separated them. No one there knew why they were there in the first place. But then know one there had been there for a long time either. There was one metal door in each cell and there were no windows. Only electric lights that never went off. One day, the door had just opened and guards in uniforms had walked in. They had brought servants to clean the place up a bit and then the prisoner had started coming.

The first to come was the Woman with the Collar; she had black hair and a slightly Asiatic look. She was very pretty to look at and very young but she was obviously unhappy.

Then, some weeks later, came the Man with the Two Faces. He was very handsome and just a bit older than the Woman with the Collar. He always wore a slightly superior look that just wouldn't wear off. He never laughed, never in all the time that he was there.

The Woman with the Collar had been there for just a few days when he came. He turned around and looked around. At the rotting straw and the hole in the floor in the corner.

"Yuk!" he exclaimed. His expression was disgusted and just a bit greenish. He was startled when he heard her slivery laugh out of the dark corner where she always stood.

"Do you know what the hole is for?" she asked walking toward the rusty bars of iron in the middle of the room. There was no emotion in her voice. His expression was just a bit startled when he realised that he wasn't alone.

"No, would you consider telling me?" he demanded back at her.

"You'll realize eventually" she said in a slightly amused voice. "Welcome in the Cell, by the way, Man with the Two Faces" she stated then. He was even more surprised at that.

"How do you know?" he asked. "No one knows!" She laughed again. He just held back his tongue, when insults started to form there. He would have to spend some time in the company of that woman and maybe sometime he would get an urge to talk to someone and who knew if anyone else would end up getting locked up in here. Wanting to talk to someone? He nearly laughed at himself at that.

They spend the next few days in silence. He had turned towards the wall and was doing his best to ignore her and get her picture out of his head.

The next people to come were the Fat Man and the Religious Woman. The Fat Man was middle aged and nearly bald. His first word were "Oh my God, oh my God, I need to sit down".

"Thou shalt not use the Lord's name in vain" Came the clear voice of the Religious Woman then. She was round and friendly. Her face was rosy and she had the appearance to be everyone's mother.

"Welcome, Fat Man and Religious Woman, to the cell" came the voice of the Woman with the Collar then. "I'm the Woman with the Collar and …"

"Will you stop using those ridicules names _please_!" threw in the Man with the Two Faces.

"That is the Man with the Two Faces," she continued as if he hadn't said anything at all. "You are ill, Fat Man" she continued, "take this daily and you will get better." She concluded taking something out of a pocket in her dress that no one had seen before. Walking towards the bars, a very sad look reached her eyes. Sadder than she had been before. She gave him the bottle and returned to the Religious Woman. She gave her a hug, which the Religious Woman instinctively returned. "Thank you, Religious Woman"

Later that day, the Fat Man started getting hungry and the first argument broke out in the little community.

"I'm hungry, do we ever get fed here?" he asked.

"How dare you ask, I've been here for days and I haven't eaten" hissed the Man with the Two Faces.

"God, will cease our needs, if we just believe I him and pray." said the Religious Woman. "He will protect all his children if they don't sin against his commandments and he will protect us, being the weak vulnerable in this fight, and this world." She smiled. "Think of something else" she advised.

"We don't get fed here, nor do we get watered. I'm here more than a month and I haven't eaten anything yet I still live." Came the silvery voice out of her corner again.

"Don't talk as if we were animals, woman" snapped the Man with the Two Faces.

" But we are no more than that, are we, man? We mate, produce children, and under usual circumstance we need water and food. Where is the difference?"

"That is sin!" cried out the Religious Woman, muttering prayers under her breath asking for forgiveness for the sins of the young.

"We think and talk for one thing, we dominate everything for an other. That is all the difference I need" argued the Fat Man, trying to end the argument.

All unnoticed to them the door in the man's cell had opened and the Old Man had come in.

"But we only think so don't we. Prove top me that flies don't think the same and I'll believe you." were his first words.

The Woman with the Collar jumped up and walked to the bars. Taking out one she walked through the men's cell and dropped to her knees in front of the Old Man.

"Forgive me, Old Man. I welcome to you the Cell. I should have paid more attention, I should have known…." She begged. "Please forgive me… I am unworthy"

"Stop talking nonsense woman" came a sneer from behind her.

"But she isn't talking nonsense, Man with the Two Faces. You have done no wrong, Woman with the Collar, you are but young. You are doing well." Chided the Old Man the two young people.

"I have no right to be young, Old Man. Duty is heavy…"

"Introduce me, woman with collar"

"This is the Religious Woman, the Fat Man and the Man with the Two Faces. I am the Woman with the Collar" she said, pointing at each of them in turn.

The Man with the Two Faces sighed at that. That woman's behaviour was confusing him. Neither the Religious Woman nor the fat man knew what she was talking about either. But the Religious Woman believed that God was leading their steps and that it must be right. She would never know who wrong she was at that. The Fat Man on the other hand had been raised with the concept of tolerance and insanity and he was too lazy to think about it either.

Then the door burst open and a guard shoved a Young Man inside. When he saw the young woman on the wrong cell. He pulled out a whip.

"Welcome, Young Man" was all she managed to gasp before the whip came descending on her back.

"How dare you come to the wrong cell" and the whip came down again.

More guard came in and they too got out whips. They beat her till her gown was bloody and in shreds. There wasn't a single piece of skin that was still whole on her back. One guard then threw an other identical dress over her and said change. She turned her back to the men in the cell and facing the guards she pulled the new dress over her head and pulled out the old one at the bottom. Then she threw it in the guards face.

"Welcome, Young Man" she repeated, while the guards walked out. She introduced the other people in the cells as she walked back over to her own corner, after putting the iron bar back in its place. Everyone else was still frozen in shock by what had happened but slowly they returned to normal and no one every spoke of it again.

A bit later that day the Young Man walked over to the Man with the Two Faces and sat down next to him.

"Is it always like that? I mean do they beat us often?" he asked sounding a bit scared.

"No, it was the first time," answered the Man with the Two Faces.

"And who is she? I mean the one who calls herself the Woman with the Collar,"

"I don't know, I really don't. She was here before I came. She was the first."

"Maybe that's why she greets people like that"

"Or she knows something that we don't know"

"But she is beautiful, isn't she. Like one of the ancient gods, Venus maybe" replied the Young Man with a deamy look in his eyes.

"You haven't gotten yourself a fancy for her have you? There is no humanity in her. You'll break your heart on that one," replied the Man with the Two Faces laughing. He was thinking that maybe the very same thing was happening to him. "You are only a child"

"You aren't much older though are you" said the Young Man accusingly, who did know that he was too young to get her attention but still hoped.

"At least I have reached adulthood 2 years ago and she's younger that me. Women like men who look like men not children," laughed the Man with the Two Faces. "But don't take that seriously. No ones going to get her so we can be friends," he added holding out this hand to the other man. Baffled the Young Man regarded the stranger but then tool his hand.

Neither one of the men had seen that the Woman with the Collar had watched their exchange, looking pleased although she couldn't have heard their words.

Several weeks passed with each of the inhabitant sitting on their own, hardly talking to each other and if they did they mostly just passed along trifle comments that no one remembered a minute after they were said.

Then the next woman arrived in the cells. That morning nearly everyone had noticed that there was something wrong with the Woman with the Collar. She had seemed restless and when the religious woman had asked her what the matter was she had answered without making any sense.

"Today is my doom" she had said glancing at the Man with the Two Faces while she said that.

"And why would that be? I shall not be content if you don't tell me! I shall change fate if I have to!" stated the Young Man, his admiration and love for the Woman with the Collar showing from every move he made.

"I do not know myself. I just know that something will happen that will change all our lives to the very core and that decision will have to be made and that destiny will be decided because of today." She smiled briefly. "Know though that your way of speech is not necessary nor correct in grammar."

"I'm sorry," was all the Young Man could answer suddenly feeling very foolish.

It was in that moment that the door to the woman's cell opened and the Woman in Black came in. Everyone was stunned at her image, she was so beautiful that she could have been taken for a goddess. The woman with the collar was the first in the assorted community to regain her senses.

"I welcome you Woman in Black, or shall I say Woman without Eyes", greeted the Woman with the collar.

"I don't understand, why do you call me that. I do wear black but I still have eyes you know, I wear a veil because my mother died several years ago" replied the Woman in Black coldly.

"Or maybe Woman without Humour would be more appropriate," muttered the Woman with the Collar under her breath. "Well, Woman in Black, I am the Woman with the Collar…" and she continued introducing the other members in the group.

"I demand to be let out of hear," the Woman in Black started screeching but was interrupted by the Man with the Two Faces.

"I am sorry, there is nothing we can do," he started, walking to the iron bars, "I would offer you my condolences for your loss though, if it would help at all."

"Charmed, Man with the Two Faces" she answered. Everyone had taken to using those names as their own were never revealed. Only now did the others notice that she was no older that the Woman with the Collar. No one could miss the look of adoration on the Man with the Two Faces threw the Woman in Black but no one realised the consequences.

Later that very day the Pregnant Woman with the Girl Child arrived. The Girl Child was only about 5 years old but she seemed very grown up when she said that she was looking after her Mummy because she was the eldest child and her daddy had told her to before he died after the Woman with the Collar had welcomed them.

"Well, we'll all help you, I promise," she told the Girl Child. Then she introduced the other prisoners like she usually did.

"Now we are complete and we may leave History behind us and go into the Future," mumbled the old man in his corner. He smiled, "Now let's get some sleep so the Future can start walking up and touching our lives." Surprisingly everyone felt tired when they thought about his words and sleeping seemed a very good idea.

Everyone slept for quite a long time considering that over the last weeks that they had been there most of them had not slept once and only the Fat Man woke up once and sleepily noticed that the electric lights had been switched of.

When the Old Man woke up everything had returned to normal. The Fat Man was the last to wake up and when he did so he was the only one to realise that they had not slept for weeks before that. He didn't say anything though. It didn't seem right to him that he should say something while no one else did. He was only a burden to every one he thought. He believed that he never contributed anything to the community. He too would notice only too late that he was wrong.

Life returned to the way it was before and the Girl Child was well liked by everyone and she would talk to everyone in turn. Every time she was tired she would go to everyone in turn and say Good Night and then cuddle up in the lap of the Pregnant Woman and go to sleep. She was the only one to sleep though.

Chapter 2 – Giving Birth

"I was wondering if any of you are trained as a midwife?" the Pregnant Woman asked one day.

"Why would you want to know that?" asked the Woman in Black outraged.

"Well, I'll give birth soon," replied the Pregnant Woman "and I doubt that the guards will let me leave the room and get me a professional midwife."

"I am trained as a doctor," said the Woman with the Collar then. "Has the baby started moving yet?"

"Yes, several days before we came," the Pregnant Woman frowned, "I have no idea when that was though."

"You should have said something, I know little of things like that, but we could have made you more comfortable. I'm sure a baby kicking you from the inside is not very comfortable," said the Fat Man then. He stood up and walked over to the iron bars hand handed his cloak which he had been using as a pillow only, seeing as the room was warm enough. "I hope you haven't been to uncomfortable."

"I will pray for an easy delivery," said the religious woman then. "I have a felling that we should do some more talking," she added after a little pause, "is anyone else in here of the true faith?"

"I am," said the Woman in Black, "but I found little time and reason to pray in the last years."

"I was never told about faith," whispered the Girl Child, timidly.

"Your mother would have wanted it," said the Pregnant Woman quietly.

"Well, then I think we should start a bible group. There is hardly anything else to do," said the Religious Woman pausing, "I would need a bible though.," she added.

"I've go one," said the Woman with the Collar, pulling one out of her dress.

Several days later the Fat Man asked the Old Man if he had been present at a birth already.

"I'm afraid I'm not to good at not being sick around blood. And the pain, I'll go insane," he said. The old man merely nodded, indicating nothing, either he understood, or he had been present at a birth already.

AN: This is what is to happen

Have baby

Baby die

Pregnant Woman die shortly after

Woman in Black make a fuss about all the attention on the Pregnant Woman

Talks to the guard

Woman with the Collar taked her beating for her

Man with the two faces realises that he loves both

Fat Man – dies of illness too

Woman with the Collar commits suicide

**Escape**

Man with the Two faces finally sees through the Woman in black

Doesn't kill her but leaves her behind

Flees with the survivors

_Spirit of the Woman with the Collar stays there to guide him_

AN: then there is a sequal I'm thinking about to be called Escape, there are some ideas i've had:

The survivors flight

Spirit of the woman with the collar

Survivors flee

Woman in Black tries to find them

Converts to the other side

Robbers?

In the end she is killed by the Girl Child

**AN: I'd appreciate you're thoughts and comments**


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